| Details for A Knife in the Dark |
| Summary: | Denny is using unconventional interrogation methods in Umber Alley when he is interrupted by the arrival of an Auror and a Werewolf. |
| Date: | (1939-07-07) |
| Location: | Umber Alley & St. Mungos |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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The darkness of Umber alley is all encompassing with only a small bit of foot-traffic moving about at the current time of day, an odd sort of quiet for the longest time barring a number of footsteps ambling to and fro. In the quiet darkness a crash rings out the sound of someone being thrown against a wall, a scream of surprise. While it would be normal in some parts of town for people to take notice, here people seem to just keep moving ignoring the sounds completely. A sniveling voice calls out in pain and surprise "I don't know, I'm telling you the truth." then a pained scream, fallowed by another louder shouting "I don't know!" The sound of metal smashing into flesh, bone breaking ringing out through the darkness as people close their windows removing light completely from their surroundings. "I don't like people lying to me Tommy, spill it, before I pull my heater and spill you,", the voice of Denny sounds out, a low inhumanly cruel quality to his voice as he speaks, the first man calling out in pain.
Rena Lee is quite possibly the last person on the face of the earth who should be alone in Umber Alley… and yet, here she is. Undoubtedly on duty; undoubtedly following a lead, but most certainly (and foolishly) alone.
It isn't often that the young woman can be seen openly gripping her demure little wand tightly in hand while she walks. As a rule, she prefers to keep it tucked away and out of sights so as not to worry anyone. However, she knows very well that one never does anything lightly in a place like this. Her nerves are already a bit on edge when the first crash rings out, and her breath catches in her throat as her movement ceases and she stops to listen intently. Deep concern shows on her features as she hears the awful pleas and cries of pain, and she begins to move boldly in the direction of the commotion.
Of course Rena is terrified - but that never stopped her from plunging head-first into a bad situation before. And so, clasping her wand tightly until her knuckles show white, the small redheaded witch presses against the corner just outside the alley where the fight seems to be happening. Peering cautiously past the brick wall, she tries to discern what is happening before stepping in. Is that really Denny??
Ah Umber Alley, not only is it a place for criminals it is a place for those who are desperate, that in their darkest hour would be willing to try just about anything, con artists run rampant on the streets, selling there wares, their miracle cures and the likes. One of those desperate souls is former Famous Quidditch Player, Demetrius Orpington. He had just finished up buying something in a black vial called, "Wolf-B-Gone" pulling the cork out he brings it up to his nose and takes a sniff, curling back a bit and his eyes blinking as he tries to recover from the rather wicked smell. If Camilla knew he was trying these things, she would kill him.
But then he suddenly heard the echoing sound of a crash and shouting. While Dem isn't exactly street savvy, he does want to make sure that everything is okay. Moving towards the sound of the commotion he sees the two men in in what appears to be a small scuff, clearing his throat out for a moment he says, "Hey boys… lets take it easy for a second." he says raising his hand to try and calm things down. Then Rena appears and he looks at her with a worried face and a shrug.
From behind Denny looks like just about another other man, his suit jacket, and trench coat laying off to one side as to avoid getting blood on them. The man he's holding up is covered in blood his nose smashed clean to one side, Denny seems to be holding him up against the wall by his neck, and have been employing some nuanced interrogation methods.
Without even missing a beat Denny shoves a blood covered hand with a set of brass knuckles on them, into his pocket, pulling out a badge, which his shows over towards the two "Ministry business, move along" His voice sounding cold, detached, cruel, and completely different from the previous night. Without all the bulky clothing it's now clear that Denny spends a lot of time working on his physical strengths, maybe even more so then his magical ones, even with his rather stocky frame.
There is some slight sense of relief in the arrival of Demetrius for Rena. Although she doesn't know him, he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. He wants to talk some sense into the situation before it gets any worse. Of course, given the circumstances, she can't even offer a smile in greeting. All she can do is offer a concerned shake of her head to say that she doesn't know what's going on, either.
The man turns, flashes his badge and tells them to move along. Now she KNOWS for certain that it is, in fact, Denny. Struggling with her sense of panic at the state of the victim, Rena fights to find her voice. Stepping out from her place at the wall, she calls out: "Mister Orwell, that's enough!" She tries to get the trembling under control, and she holds her wand to her chest nervously with both hands. "Can't you see you've beaten the man 'alf senseless? What do you think you're doing?"
Demetrius' hand moves and rubs the back of his head for a moment clearly thinking. "Well I am not a… expert or anything on Ministry Laws and regulations… but I don't think you can just beat people up in the alley…." he says looking between Denny and the other man, "So how about we just break it up a bit and all?" he says offering Denny a small smile and another soft shrug. "I think you just need a moment to calm down… you know take a breath?" he explains offering a hand to Denny, "You know adrenaline and all, like after a good game of Quidditch, your blood is still pumping." he says nodding as he takes a step towards Denny. Then Rena interjects and he looks between here and the other man, silent now.
Denny turns around fully still holding the struggling man by the neck against the wall, as he speaks in a more calm, almost disturbingly charming voice. "Miss Lee, what I'm doing is my job." As the man tries to wiggle away weakly Denny tightens his grip on the mans neck just enough to stop his flailing, before loosening it slightly so he doesn't pass out "It's not pretty but it gets results, which is the only thing the department cares about." He looks over towards the quidditch player, and offers a tip of his hat to the man, and a brief smile.
Rena may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but she knows enough to tell when someone is just trying to placate her and soothe her worries in a dismissive fashion. And although the young woman may still be trembling with emotion, she is emboldened greatly by Demetrius being there to take her side. She takes another two steps toward Denny and his unfortunate witness: "There are other ways to get results!" She exclaims, taking a tougher stance and dropping her arms to either side so that she no longer hugs herself in an unnerved fashion. "What can this man 'ave possibly done to deserve this kind of treatment? If 'e's committed a crime, you should've arrested 'im and brought 'im to the Ministry for a proper questioning! Not take 'im to a bloody back alley to 'ave the living daylights beat out of 'im."
Oh, Rena's on a roll on her scolding high-horse now. And she simply doesn't wait to close the distance any further between herself, Denny and the beaten man. "I'll take 'im to Mungo's /for/ you to get patched up."
Dem is at a loss, for what to do. He watches the scene unfold and for a moment not sure what to do, the biggest thing is he doesn't want anyone to get hurt. As Rena moves forward so does Dem, though he seems not to care much about getting in her way he makes sure not to get between them, raising his hands in the air a big. "Come now guys, like I said. Let us all just settle down a bit." he looks between everyone with a large grin on his face, "No need for this to escalate any more, I will sign a few autographs, we can sit down have a laugh about this." he says with a smile.
It all happens in a quick motion, one moment the battered and bloodied man is reaching into his pocket, muttering something about a business card, the next he's swinging a punch right for Rena's midsection, before Denny can even, react a flint of silver metal peaking out from between his fingers in the form of a blade. Denny looks over towards Rena for a moment as if in shock, before looking the man back right in the eyes, that terrifying quality coming back in full force as he starts to tighten his grasp around the mans neck.
It isn't quite like any pain Rena has ever felt before. First, it feels cold, then it feels very… very hot. The blade is in and out in the bat of an eye, and it felt only like being punched with a fist. But the feeling remains, and it deepens. Rena's breath catches in her throat sharply and she stumbles back a step with her hand held to the wound instinctively. Demetrius, Denny and the other man are ignored, now. She just looks confused; and the confusion only deepens as she sees dark red seeping into her jacket and through the fingers of her glove.
"What, did… Why?" Rena asks weakly. Her wand slips out of her other hand, and the look of a complete lack of comprehension washes over her pale features as she leans heavily against the wall.
Well damn, things just go serious. Dem just stands there helpless now as he watches the scene unfold before him. Helpless now, he can't do anything, he can't help any of them, all he can do is watch. A sympathetic look goes to Rena as his eyes grow soft and he says, "I'm…I'm sorry." he says softly to her as he takes a step back, "I… can't… help you…" he says his eyes locked on Rena's. He looks at Denny his hands still up, "I… I… can't touch her…" he says a washing look of panic over taking his features.
Be it out of fear desperation or something else, the terrified man continues to try and slash at Denny, as consciousness slowly fades from him, his breathing being cut off by the tightness of grip. After but a few moments of struggling the sound of metal tinking against cobblestone rings out, the man falling limp in Denny's grasp. Though it's hard at a glance to tell if the man's dead or just unconscious, as Denny throws him over towards the feet of Dem, calling out "If you can't touch her, then watch him" Denny says almost shouting, as he moves over besides Rena, grabbing hold of her shoulder while pulling out a wand "he winds up dead I'll make sure people know you were on the other side of town," As he starts doing several motions he adds "Man's a cop killer and a drug peddler anyway, no one'll miss him"
"Wh-why?" Rena asks breathlessly again, somewhat conscious of Demetrius' panic now as he says that he can't touch her. Only lifting her head a little to fix on Demetrius with swimming vision. Apparently her mind isn't in a place to process the whys and wherefores of the situation. She doesn't know (or consciously recall at least) that the poor unfortunate soul is a werewolf.
It's rather shocking to see the amount of blood soaking through her hand and clothing now.
Stupidly, she drops the hand dripping with blood and feebly reaches for her wand. Of course it's out of arm's length and she can't even hope to touch it. Perhaps Demetrius will be good enough to get it back to her later.
Her head begins to sink onto her chest as her legs start to give way under her, and Rena faintly murmurs the biggest understatement she's ever made: "I don't feel…very… well." Were it not for Denny holding her up, she would fall to the ground.
A massive crack sounding close to the pop of a muffler rings out and two people pop into existence, one bleeding heavily through their clothing, the other looking to be propping them up with a good deal of care, holding a wand in his other hand. The one doing the propping looks to be wearing a completely bloodstained white suit shirt, and holding an angry expression on his face, as if half having expected them to show up missing their legs. From the second they pop into existence he calls out "Get a doctor here now, we've got an auror that's been stabbed in the gut," his voice boomingly loud echoing about with the sort of inflection of a man trying to make something sound routine.
Sirawen isn't a doctor, not really, she usually deals with infants and children, and mommas but she is in the lobby at the moment. The usually bouncy woman comes rushing over, quickly to help with propping, "You heard the man!!" She calls out to those standing around, "Move it! Get me a stretcher." She looks to the two, looking to the one with the stab wound to see if the knife is still invading the victim.
As for Rena (the stab victim) she is jarred out of her half-faint by the apparition long enough to look around herself with bleary-eyed. The hospital? This is the hospital isn't it? St Mungo's… safe haven and all that. Blood soaks through her jacket, radiating from the location of the wound. There is no blade there, only a hole left behind as a reminder of what had been there for only a brief instant.
The voices of Sirawen and Denny cause Rena to actually lift her head and look more closely at her surroundings. Her expression still seems to be somewhat confused, rather than pained. That's a good thing, right? However, she looks past the woman healer and seems to be searching for someone who apparently isn't there.
Out comes a stretcher, and Rena is gently put up on it, Sirawen looks around and says, "What was she stabbed with?" This is to Denny, motioning him to follow along with her as she follows along with Rena, as she's taken to an emergency room.
With another loud pop, a group of men in full body covering suits, with large masks covering their faces appear in the room holding tight onto either arm of an unconscious man who looks like he's spent the last several hours in a tumble dryer. The man is bleeding, but has had an odd looking device placed on him to stop him from having his blood drip down to the floor, one of the men barks out towards the group of three ordering "No one move, we've got a possible lycanthropy outbreak on our hands" He moves over, trying to forcibly grab onto the bleeding Rena "I want everyone who came in contact with that thing quarantined, till we can make sure they're not infected." The man looks towards the nurse shouting out "No one enters or leaves this room till everything is secure," He continues.
Denny stays silent not entirely sure how to respond to the situation that's developing for some time, before saying "This woman needs medical attention, now" in a somewhat stern and terrifying voice, while not really moving for fear of someone over reacting.
"Where… where is he?" Rena asks weakly, using the last ounce of strength she has to try and push past the medics as they lay her on the stretcher. Who she's asking about is unclear. The stabber? Denny? Demetrius? It's difficult to say, but she does seem to be genuinely upset.
As if the confusion and chaos weren't bad enough, these men arrive to seal the area and take control of the situation. Panic shows in the eyes of anyone in the near vicinity as they speak the dreaded word "Lycanthropy," and even people in the distant hallways begin to back away slowly. Without warning, one man grabs her roughly, causing an involuntary cry of pain to escape from the woman. She's helpless and unable to defend herself. What more can they want?
A tall man with platinum blond hair, all nicely sculpted with hair product steps forward, his face covered and he moves over to Sirawen, "Sirawen, you need to stay away from the girl. Did you touch her? Did you touch either of them?" Looking up at the man she meeps a little, "I did Daddy, I helped get her on the stretcher.. she's hurt she needs to… HEY NOW!! Stop that, she's hurt and needs to be healed first!!!"
A few more men dressed exactly the same as the ones from before pop in along behind the first wave, men fanning out through the room, using their wands as a way of scanning for something. None of them barring the man in charge seems to have their faces visible behind their masks, as they cast spell after spell. The man holding onto Rena's arm proceeds to prod it with his own wand muttering something under his breath as the wand, and her arm starts to emit a feint glow. "In due time, we need to follow procedure" The blonde man explains as his team works quick and efficiently to seal off the room completely.
Denny looks over towards the groups of people in odd clothing with a bit of anger and confusion as he's poked and prodded with wands, and spells are cast upon him. He looks about ready to start swinging before he's able to calm himself down with a deep breath, and a low sighing exhale. "There's going to be a lot of paperwork after this" Denny's voice sounding just a few steps shy of anger as he looks down towards the floor, keeping his hands held deep inside of his pockets.
Irritation begins to replace confusion. Rena feels woozy, she's in pain, she's bleeding…and pretty nauseous right now. And here are all these blasted people milling around her, acting like the place is filled with the black death - or something akin to it.
"What…wrong with everyone?" She murmurs testily, rallying another burst of strength as the stranger prods her arm. For whatever reason, annoyance snaps in her eyes and she suddenly jerks the arm away from the man. And furthermore, she fiercely lashes out at him with it… well, fierce for a petite woman who's been slowly losing blood for the last five minutes. Which is to say that even if the strike connects, it won't feel like much of anything.
There is one thing you never do, and it's piss off a red head. And there is one way to do that with Sira, and that's mess with someone who is hurt. "You can do all that while she's being healed!" She looks up at her father and says, "She has a gut wound Poppa, those are the worst of them all, the most painful and it needs to be healed before she bleeds out. That's a lot of blood if your friends are upset by it."
"Well hurry up, you've got ten" He says looking over towards the men who had at this point been poking and prodding Rena, Dean, and Sira, who immediately proceed to go back to using magic to clean up the blood on the floor, moving out of the way of the medical professional. "That's all the time I can give you," the man says looking over towards his daughter.
Denny looks over towards Rena, saying something under his breath about being owed a drink, and another witness, not really speaking that clearly. He straightens up his back a good ways, looking over towards the doctor as if for a bit of advice, as he starts being pushed off to one side for testing.
Sirawen gives a nod to a healer that is standing by and the man goes over, though not touching Rena, and begins to chant, using his wand to heal the wound, once the midwife sees that the woman has been taken care of, she looks up at her father and says, "Alright poppa, we can go do what you need to do." She gives a warm smile to her daddy and looks to Rena and Denny.
In the light of day when Rena is not weakened by blood loss and confused by the same, she will feel all kinds of stupid about the whole situation. Furthermore, she'll owe at least a half dozen people (Denny and Sirawen included) a profuse apology for the trouble she's caused. People have been saying her soft heart would get her laid up in Saint Mungo's for a long time now, and it was about time it came true. However, one does have to wonder WHY she had to do it in such a chaos-inducing way?
Thank goodness some reason prevails and the healer has a chance to staunch the bleeding and begin the healing process. It isn't painless as one might hope it would be. In fact, it hurts like the dickens, judging by Rena's pained reaction. If she had a bullet to bite right about now, it would help… but she hasn't. Only after a long moment does the pain begin to subside; and, when it does at last, the young woman sinks down on the stretcher, finally slipping into unconsciousness. Poor Rena. She only ever means well.
Over the next hour or so the men in their uniforms perform test after test on anyone who may have come into contact with the lycanthrope. Some of the tests proving a good deal more painful then others. However as the last of the 'contamination' is cleaned, and the last few invasive tests are run, the men vanish with a loud crack, swirling into nothing, along with oddly enough the containment devices that where set up. Little more then a tip of the hat provided by the leader of the group, and a brief smile, as he vanishes to with his men, off to their next encounter.